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Blue Jays place Hutchison on 15-day DL

Blue Jays place Hutchison on 15-day DL

TORONTO -- Drew Hutchison became the third Blue Jays casualty this week when he was officially placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday morning because of an injured right elbow.

Hutchison was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and is currently in a no-throw situation for the next two weeks. With a vacant spot on the 25-man roster, Toronto recalled right-hander Robert Coello from Triple-A Las Vegas.

The 21-year-old Hutchison will get a second opinion on his elbow to rule out a more serious injury. But at this point, there does not appear to be a significant tear to the ligament.

"It's not ideal, after seeing everything that has gone on," Hutchison said of the club's recent injury woes. "It's tough, the team's in a tough spot. You want to go out and help shoulder that weight any way you can -- and you come up with it yourself.

"But it is what it is. I'm not going to throw a pity party. I'm going to get back and try to help the team."

Hutchison was the third Blue Jays pitcher to go down with an injury in the last four games. He was forced to depart Friday night's start after just nine pitches because of soreness in his right elbow. While Hutchison cannot throw for at least the next 14 days, there is no timetable for his return.

The native of Florida had become one of the Blue Jays' more reliable starters in recent weeks. He posted a 5-3 record with a 4.60 ERA during 11 starts in his rookie campaign before the unfortunate injury.

Pitching can be a dangerous profession at times as Hutchison joined Brandon Morrow (strained left oblique) and Kyle Drabek (torn UCL) on the DL, and manager John Farrell said there really wasn't anything that could be done to avoid the latest setback.

"Four times he threw over 100 pitches -- no more than 112," Farrell said. "To me, the number of pitches inside of a given game, when you might balance in fatigue at some point where an injury might show up later in the game, this is on pitch nine.

"I wish I could have [foreseen] it coming, and would have certainly made a change before it ever happened. Unfortunately, pitching is a game of attrition -- and we're seeing a lot of it right now."

A lot was made of Hutchison throwing with increased velocity in recent starts. Hutchison previously threw in the low 90s, but recently began to top out at 94-95 mph.

According to Hutchison, that had more to do with pitch selection than increased intensity. He doesn't feel like the extra couple of miles per hour on his fastball had anything to do with the sprained UCL.

"I'd say the only difference was I was throwing more four-seamers," said Hutchison, who added this is the first time he has dealt with an elbow injury. "So it's natural that I'd throw the four-seamer harder than the two-seamer. So, I don't think that had anything to do with it.

"I felt normal. The exact same, same routine the whole way."

Coello is a welcome addition to a bullpen that was forced to throw 8 1/3 innings on Friday night. He will serve in long relief and has an outside chance to earn one of the two vacant jobs in Toronto's starting rotation. Coello tossed two shutout innings for the Blue Jays in his one appearance with the big league club earlier this year.